Dirty TackleLuis Suarez thinks people boo him because they fear him
With a 1-0 loss to Team GB in their final group-stage match, Uruguay were knocked out of the Olympic football tournament. This was celebrated by the fans in Cardiff not only because it allowed Team GB to advance to a quarterfinal match against South Korea, but also because it meant the elimination of perhaps the most disliked player in the competition -- Luis Suarez. Booed at every venue Uruguay played (including Old Trafford, home to the club he suspects of using "political power" to get him found guilty of racially abusing Patrice Evra and subsequently banned for eight matches), Suarez has developed a theory as to why that's happened.
From the Guardian:
The jeering interrupted the playing of the Uruguay national anthem after Suárez was shown on the big screen and the striker hit out after a 1-0 defeat that meant his team were eliminated.
"I think they jeer me and they boo me because they must be scared of facing a player like me," he said. "They fear me, but that doesn't affect me. I'm just hurt because we lost and we are going home. I can take the abuse … but I think it was a total lack of respect from the crowd to boo when we were trying to sing our national anthem. I think those things should not happen."
Fear of facing him probably isn't the first answer many others would give to that question, but Suarez has a point. After all, this is a guy who is not only quite good, but once bit an opponent on the shoulder during a match. So a fear of further bitings could be a reason most Suarez jeerers are too proud to admit.
But the more interesting aspect of this response is how reminiscent it is of Cristiano Ronaldo's answer to the question of why he gets booed. "It is because I am handsome, rich and a great player, because I am envied," said a defiant Ronaldo in 2011. Maybe Luis has been taking tips on masking inner doubt with an outer shield of self-confidence from the best.
Now if someone would just ask John Terry why people jeer him...
